You’re at work and you keep seeing an error show up on your screen, so you do what any sensible user is going to do. You call your IT department and tell them what’s going on. The first response they give you is “have you restarted your computer yet?” So what’s is going on here? Is this just the IT guy being lazy and trying to avoid looking at your computer? Is there some magical secret that happens every time you restart your computer? As a matter of fact, there’s wisdom in this simple, yet often infuriating question.

The Simple Answer

So what’s the quick and dirty answer to the magical reboot? It’s quite simple. Restarting resets everything to a starting state and lets everything run from a known good state. Imagine for a moment that you live in a major city with lots of twisting streets and tall buildings. You know where your home is, you know where your work is, and you know how to go from one to the other. Now imagine you got distracted somewhere and suddenly find yourself in a neighborhood you’ve never been in before. You don’t have a map or GPS to help you get back on track. If you were then given the option to “reset” and go back to your home where your journey always starts, and where you know your surroundings, would you take it? This is essentially what you are doing when you restart your computer. You are giving it the opportunity to “reset” back to “home” and try again.

So What’s Really Going On?

I’m glad you’ve stuck around to ask! As mentioned above, restarting is a simple way to solve a lot of issues that come up with your computer. So here’s what’s really happening when you restart:

• Clear Out Temporary Data – Restarting the computer clears RAM and deletes temporary files that have built up. This frees up memory to be used and clears out some potentially corrupt files.
• Stop Faulty Processes – Sometimes, programs or background processes have an error that they can’t clear on their own without being restarted. Since restarting your computer shuts down everything, this gives those applications and processes a chance to start fresh.
• Apply Updates – A system restart will often provide your Operating System (Windows) with a chance to install recently downloaded and important system updates. Many of these updates are released to address compatibility issues and known bugs, such as the kind you are likely experiencing when you call your IT department.
• Reset your System State – Over time, software errors and memory leaks can happen. Programs such as Google Chrome struggle to correctly manage the memory they’re using, resulting in excessive resource utilization. A system restart clears all of this out and wipes the board clean.
• Easier Troubleshooting – Okay, so yes, your IT guy really is trying to make his job easier. A system restart clears out temporary glitches and removes the unknown variables that might be contributing to your issues. When we know you’ve restarted, if your problem is continuing, it becomes much easier to track down the reasons why and resolve the problem.

Restarting your computer may seem like a simple task, but it really is an important one when your computer is having problems. If you take the time to restart before you call your IT guy, it’ll be much easier to find the solution to your computer woes.